Connecting and aligning device for road rail forms



Jan. 26, 1932. E. T. HARROLD CONNECTING AND ALIGNING DEVICE FOR ROAD RAIL FORMS Filed Aug. 16, 1930 I INVENTOR.

[ow/m0 7." #429040.

ATT OR Y.

Patented Jan. 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT'OFFICE EDWARD '1. HARROLD, F IBIEGHAMTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 HOTCHKISS STEEL IRODUCTS COMPANY, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, A COMPANY OF NEW YORK CONNECTING AND ALIGNING DEVICE FOR ROAD RAIL FORMS Application filed August 16', 1930. Serial No. 475,755.

This invention relates to forms for holding plastic or liquid materials in position until the materials become self-supporting and more particularly to devices for connecting and aligning forms such as are used in the building of roads, paths and the like.

An object of this invention is to align road "ail forms.

Another object of this invention is to conto nect road rail forms so that they will be accurately aligned.

A further object of this invention is to hold a road rail form in contact and alignment with another road rail form.

These objects are accomplished by providing a substantially rigid lnel'nber adapted to slide freely between flanges of a road rail form and having an inclined surface thereon adapted to cooperate with inclined surfaces on adjacent ends of two road rail forms, whereby movement cit said member wedges it between the inclined surfaces and flanges on the re ad rail forms.

In the construction of roads, sidewalks, paths and the like, it is essential that the edges or sides thereof be accurately defined and the flow of the road material limited by properly positioned forms. It is also essential that adjacent forms or sections be accurately aligned to avoid jogs and an uneven surface in the finished road or path. Structural steel forms having top and bottom flanges and a connecting web are ordinarily used, and the present invention will be described and illustrated as applied to such forms, but it should be understood that this invention may he applied to forms made of other materials than steel and to forms of ditlcreut cross section. Roads laid between forms initially made of concrete. The material used for the road however is not a part of this invention as any material may be used with which it is necessary or desir able to use forms.

Referring now to the accompanying drawand aligning device made in accordance with bracket providing one of the inclined sur faces, In the drawings like reference characters indicate like parts.

In Figure 1 reference character 1 indicates a type of road rail form in common use and 2 a similar form connected and aligned with: road rail form 1. Both forms impound the road material 5, and their top flanges 6 and 7 respectively cooperating with the top flanges of similar forms on the opposite side of the road (not shown), provide guides IliOIr a striking board to remove excess road material and thereby cause the surface of the road to conform with the top of the forms. Lower flanges 8 and 9 of forms 1 and 2 respectively rest on the earth or subgrade 10. Top flange? 6 and bottom flange 8 of the road rail form 1 are connected by web 11 and similarly flanges 7 and 9 of road rail form 2 are connected by web 12. Top flanges 6 and 7 may be turned down at their outer edges as shown to provide greater strength and stiffness.

According to the present invention, means attached to or forming part of road rail form 2 near one end thereof, such as angle piece 14:, provides a surface 15 which is disposed at an angle to the plane of upper flange 7. Similar means, such as angle piece 16, is provided near one end of road rail form 1 and provides inclined surface 17 which lies in the same plane as surface 15 when said ends of forms 1 and 2 are in contact and alignment. Angle pieces 16 and 1-1 maybe secured to lower flanges 8 and 9 respectively by riveting or welding or by other suitable means. An angle piece 18 similar to angle piece 16 is se-- cured to the opposite end ofroad rail form 2 for aligning the next succeeding road rail form (not shown). The upstanding portions of angle pieces 14: and 18 are spaced from web 12 to permit a plate 20 to slide therebetween as clearly shown in Figures 3 and 4. The upstanding portion of angle piece 16 is similarly spaced from web 12 for the same purpose.

slidable plate 20 may have a top flange 21 conforming substantially to the inside of top flanges 6 or 7 of the road rail forms, to provide a larger-bearing surface than would be provided by the edge of plate 20 and to in-- crease the rigidity of the plate. An inclined surface '22 is provided on the lower portion of plate 20 asby the lower edge of strip 23 which may be integral with plate 20 or suitably secured thereto. The angle between surface 22 and top flange 21 should be substantially equal to the angle between surfaces 15 and 17 and their respective top flanges 7 and 6, Portions of the sides of slidable plate 20 as indicated by reference characters 24 and 25 may be bent to form flanges in order to further stiffen the plate and to provide surfaces for receiving hammer blows. A strip 26 may be secured to plate 20 between flanges 24 and 25 to vprevent these flanges from bending when hit by a hammer. Strip 26 also serves as a stiffening member for'plate 20.

From the foregoing description and Figure 2 of the drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that when slidable plate 20 is moved or driven to the left, surface 22 will slideon surfaces 15 and 17 thereby raising plate 20 until its top edge or flange bears against the insides of flanges 6 and7 and at the same time shifting the relative position of the adjacent road rail forms until they are aligned with each other. in cooperation with angle pieces 14 and 16 then acts as a wedge to hold the road rail forms together. To separate the road rail forms after the road material has hardened, it is only necessary to drive the plate 20 in the opposite direction.

While this invention has been described in one of its preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention itself is limited only by the scope of the V appended claims. V

1. In combination, a road rail form having a plurality of angularly disposed surfaces adjacent one end thereof, a second road rail form having a plurality of surfaces so disposed relative to an end thereof that said surfaces lie in the same planes respectively as the surfaces on the first mentioned road grail form when said road rail forms are in end to endcontact and in alignment and a movable member having a plurality of surthe angles between said surfaces on said road Plate 20 rail forms and adapted to be wedged therebetween.

2. An aligning device for road rail forms comprising a substantially rigid member adapted to slide freely between flanges on two abutting road rail forms and havinga portion thereof adapted to wedge between two pairs of angularly disposed surfaces a pair of said surfaces being disposed adjacent the abutting end of each of said road rail forms,

g 3. A connecting and aligning device for road rail" forms having top and bottom flanges and a connecting web' therebetween, comprising an angle member secured to the bottom flange of each ofsaid road forms adjacent an end thereof, each of said angle members having a leg thereof disposed sub stantially parallel to the Web of its respective road irail'form and spaced from said web, the free ends of said legs on abutting ends of two of said road rail forms being angularly disposed to said top flanges and lying in the same plane when said tworoad rail forms arein end to end contact and in alignment, a substantially rigid member adapted to slide freely between the top and bottom flanges of said two road rail forms and having an end thereof adapted to slide in the space between said legs and said webs and having the opposite end thereof substantially parallel to said top flanges, and a surface on said slidable member angularly disposed to the ends thereof, adapted to slide on the ends of said legs thereby wedging said slidable member between said legs and said top flanges when said slidable member is moved in the proper direction relative to said road rail forms.

4. In combination, a pair of road rail forms of substantially channel cross section, a member adapted to slide between the legs of said road rail forms with the ends of said member substantially parallel to said legs, means on said members for providing a surface disposed at an angle to said ends, and means on each of said road rail forms for providing a surface thereon disposed at said angle to the legs thereof, the last mentioned surfaces lying in the same plane when said pair of road rail forms are in end to end contact and alignment, whereby when said slidable member is moved to overlap both of said road rail forms any misalignment thereof will be corrected by the Wedging of said slidable member between the angularly disposed surface and one leg of each of said road rail forms.

' In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

EDWARD T. HARROLD. 

